A professor of criminal law in Turkey with ties to senior officials of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) including the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan himself, has warned on Monday that a declaration of a state of emergency due to the economic situation is to be anticipated.
Prof. Dr. İzzet Özgenç, a member of the Turkish Academy of Sciences and a consultant frequently called upon by AKP in the processes of drafting new laws, said on Twitter:
“The ongoing depreciation of the Turkish Lira against foreign currencies has started a process which will lead to a ‘SEVERE ECONOMIC CRISIS’ [capital letters by Özgenç]. Hence we should be ready, as the whole society, for the declaration of a STATE OF EMERGENCY due to an economic crisis which seems inevitable.”
Özgenç later cited on Tuesday a part of the law on the state of emergency: the part concerning ‘severe economic crisis’ which states:
“In the case of the declaration of a state of emergency due to a severe economic crisis, presidential decrees may be released, for the regulation and improvement of the economy, regarding guidance over goods, capital and service markets, for shaping up tax, money, loan, rent, wage and price policies, and for the assessment, implementation and monitoring of all necessary measures and requirements.”
Below the citation was an explanation on what the mentioned ‘measures’ could be. Two of these are:
“Outgoing currency flows may be restricted independent from importation of goods or services.”
“Foreign currency accounts of Turkish nationals kept in financial institutions abroad may be asked to be returned back to Turkey, independent from imports of goods or services.”
Meral Akşener, the leader of the opposition Iyi Party has commented on Özgenç’s remarks on Tuesday, saying:
“Now that they have left aside the rhetoric about ‘external powers’, it seems they’ve started concentrating on ‘internal’ ones. Especially if we try to see the situation in the context İzzet Özgenç recently presented, it’s very concerning that such steps, including control over capital flows or the foreign currency accounts of citizens, may actually be taken. This would really put Turkey in a very bad place; and cause it to go into default. I call upon everyone to handle things seriously. God forbid that such an intervention occurs.”
